Rand Paul detained by TSA

Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky and son of presidential hopeful Ron Paul, was detained by TSA agents in Nashville, Tennessee Monday morning, according to social media updates made by both libertarian lawmakers.

Just after 10 a.m. EST on Monday morning, a post on the Facebook wall for Rand Paul revealed that the senator was being detained by the Transportation Security Administration at the Nashville Airport. His father, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, relayed the message on his own Twitter account moments later.

Rand Paul wrote earlier in the day that he would be traveling to Washington, DC where he was to speak at a pro-life rally in the nation’s capital. Speaking of the right to life, Paul said online that a nation cannot long endure without it and wrote that “Our Liberty depends on it.”

Senator Paul, who has only this month celebrated his first year in the US Senate, has previously attacked the TSA over what he called “invasive pat-down searches.” Last June, Paul questioned TSA Administrator John S. Pistole during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, telling him that a lot of Americans think the TSA has “gone overboard” and was “missing the boat on terrorism” by focusing their efforts on clear non-issues, like the then-recent pat-down of a six-year-old girl.

“This kind of gets back to this whole idea of what are willing to do, what are we willing to give up as a country,” said Paul. “This isn’t to say we don’t believe in safety procedures. But I think I feel less safe when you’re doing these invasive exams on a six-year old.”

According to a tweet sent by Ron Paul after the incident, an anomaly in the body scanner raised a red flag and prompted agents to request full-body pat-down. For his unwillingness to cooperate, Rand Paul was reportedly detained by the TSA, although the agency tells CNN that the senator was not detained, but rather escorted out of the main area for targeted screening.